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Onward, Christian Charters

A Christian charter school operator in Knox County is suing because it wants public money to operate a clearly religious “public” school.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel has more:

A new Christian nonprofit attempting to operate a charter school in Knoxville has sued the Knox County Board of Education, asserting the board discriminated against the nonprofit because state and local policies won’t allow “unapologetically Christian” schools to apply.

I suspect that since state dollars flow to explicitly religious private schools by way of vouchers, there’s really little difference when the state and/or a local school board sends funds to an explicitly religious charter school.

Wilberforce Academy is hardly the first openly religious school to offer the pretense of being a fully “public” charter school.

Hillsdale is in on the game, too:

Charter schools affiliated with Christian Nationalist outfit Hillsdale College made multiple charter school applications in an attempt to access millions in taxpayer cash:

Five proposed charter schools affiliated with controversial Michigan-based Hillsdale College would drain more than $17 million from Tennessee suburban and rural public schools during their first year of operation and roughly $35 million per year at maximum enrollment, according to a new fiscal analysis by Public School Partners (PSP) and Charter Fiscal Impact.

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$1.6 Billion in Repairs

That’s what’s needed in Memphis-Shelby County Schools, according to a story from Chalkbeat:

MSCS leaders are expected to present initial plans on Dec. 16 for what could be a decade-long process of school closures and renovations. This comes after an independent study found this spring that Memphis schools need over $1.6 billion in maintenance repairs over the next 10 years.

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A Note on Test Scores

A Nashville education blogger ponders the deeper meaning of all the horn-tooting over “Reward Schools.”

A comparison of this year’s list with previous years shows designations change constantly—Reward one year, not-Reward the next. The only thing consistent is that Priority Schools almost never escape the list.

Many have been on it for a decade or more.
They serve low-income, multi-cultural, multilingual communities.
We know—have known—that external factors shape internal results.

Yet we cling to these lists like they’re diagnostic tools rather than PR instruments.

TCAP, Poverty, and Investment in Schools

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On Acting and School Administration

Nashville education blogger TC Weber talks about what passes for leadership in school system central offices:

Most district administrators began their journey as classroom teachers. They know kids. They know learning. They know what works and what absolutely does not. Deep down—buried under layers of jargon, compliance documents, and motivational posters—they recognize the absurdity of much of what they’re pushing.

Nobody who has spent more than 10 minutes with actual children believes that forcing every kid to be on the same page at the same time in the same way is a kid-centered practice. It’s not even an adult-centered practice. It’s a bureaucrat-centered practice.

No one with chalk dust buried in their bloodstream believes loading down a teacher with mandates, trainings, videos, forms, surveys, dashboards, rubrics, walk-throughs, and “fidelity checks” is a recipe for success. It’s a recipe for burnout, and we’ve watched that soufflé collapse again and again.

Go ahead, read it all>

cityscape of nashville tennessee at dawn
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Less Well Rounded

TN’s State Board of Education is suggesting reducing the foreign language requirement for high school graduation from 2 credits to 1.

The Nashville Banner reports:

Several months earlier, Board Chair Robert Eby had requested a review of the world language graduation requirement. Tennessee public school students are currently required to take two credits of the same world language as part of the 22 minimum credits needed to graduate. Eby has suggested rolling back that requirement, in order to offer students more flexibility to take elective courses. 

Eby’s intention to revise graduation requirements has instilled fear and anxiety among some teachers and students across the state who have mobilized over the past several months — hoping to persuade the board that world language courses are not dispensable, but rather a crucial piece of a well-rounded education. 

planet earth
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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How Big Will TN’s Voucher Program Get in 2026?

Tennessee’s private school coupon scheme already has 20,000 takers. It will grow to 25,000 in 2026-27 unless the legislature intervenes to expand the program further.

And, that’s just what Gov. Bill Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton plan to do – with some suggesting a doubling of the program to 40,000 students next year.

Chalkbeat reports:

A mechanism in the state law will allow lawmakers to easily expand the program for 5,000 new students since the state received more than 40,000 applications, well above the expansion threshold set by state law. But Gov. Bill Lee and other Republican lawmakers say they want to expand the program even further.

But it’s unlikely the number of new seats will be decided on by the time applications close on Jan. 30, just days into the 2026 legislative session.

At least one issue advocacy group is calling for the state to rapidly expand the voucher program and other school privatization efforts – calling for 200,000 students to be using vouchers by 2031.

Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

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Chattanooga Private Schools Reap Voucher Rewards

NewsChannel9 reports on the Chattanooga-area private schools getting taxpayer dollars from Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher scheme:

New data shows that just over 600 Hamilton County students are enrolled in private schools this school year through Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program, also known as school vouchers.

Here’s the list of Hamilton County students using Education Savings Accounts (ESA) for the 2025–26 school year:

  • Annoor Academy of Chattanooga – 47
  • Avondale SDA School – 29
  • Beacon Academy – 26
  • Belvoir Christian Academy – 42
  • Berean Academy – 31
  • Bethel Christian Academy – (number not listed)
  • Brainerd Baptist School – 20
  • Chattanooga Christian School – 95
  • Dolphin STEM Academy – (number not listed)
  • Enlightium Academy – 10
  • Grace Baptist Academy – 95
  • Hamilton Heights Christian Academy – (number not listed)
  • Hickory Valley Christian School – (number not listed)
  • Imagine Learning Excellence Academy – (number not listed)
  • Notre Dame High School – 81
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Help School – 49
  • Silverdale Baptist Academy – 23
  • Skyuka Hall School – 15St. Jude School – 16
  • St. Nicholas School – (number not listed)
  • The Montessori School – (number not listed)
Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

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The School District as ICE Agent

If some Tennessee lawmakers get their way, Tennessee schools could be on the frontlines of the Trump Administrations aggressive and inhumane immigration crackdown.

A piece in the Knoxville News-Sentinel explains:

Earlier this year, the Tennessee Senate passed SB836, a bill that would allow public schools to deny undocumented children access to public K-12 education. This legislation directly challenges the landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v Doe, which held that all children in the United States are entitled to a free public education, regardless of immigration and citizenship status. 

The companion bill, HB793, stalled in the House, but it is expected to return for consideration in January.

One provision in the bill would require all public schools to collect the immigration and citizenship status of every child who enrolls, regardless of whether the district intends to exclude undocumented children.

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Not Showing Up

NewsChannel9 reports on chronic absenteeism at some Hamilton County Schools:

The 3 Hamilton County Schools High Schools with the highest chronic absentee rates are Howard Academy, Brainerd High School, and East Ridge High School, according to 2023-24 statistics from the state of Tennessee.

Meredith Benton, CEO of Communities In Schools In Tennessee, a school support organization partnering with Hamilton County Schools, identified common causes of chronic absenteeism as a lack of supplies, transportation, and access to healthcare.

Chattanooga Sign
Photo by Jeff Miller on Unsplash

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Upheld

Judge declines to intervene in book banning

State lawmakers created a monster with legislation that limits the books on school library shelves – under the guise of protecting schoolchildren from “obscene” materials.

Now, as districts struggle to comply, books are being pulled from library shelves – and some students are suing.

Chalkbeat reports on the most recent legal wrangling:

A federal judge has declined to block ongoing book bans at one of Tennessee’s largest school districts before a full trial next year.

In April, after months of heated school board meetings and district schools pulling more than 140 books from library shelves, three high school students sued the Rutherford County Board of Education. The students, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, argued in initial filings the book bans violated their First Amendment rights and disadvantaged students by blocking them from accessing “crucial, acclaimed, and historical works.”

Judge Eli Richardson denied a preliminary injunction this week, declining to block the district from limiting access to books until the full trial plays out and indicating that the defendants have an uphill battle in the case.

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